I had the pleasure of shooting a series of headshots for a law firm in downtown San Diego. I worked out a package price for them and we decided to shoot the photos in their office, for continuity and so as not to disrupt their workday. It was 8 people total and with the help of their receptionist, we had a pretty efficient workflow going where each attorney was only tied up for about 10 minutes or less.
I set up in the conference room and made use of the wall art and furniture already there to create 4 different backgrounds for each attorney to choose from. The large window looking out over downtown San Diego was the most popular. I set my aperture for a shallow depth of field to give the corporate headshots some more artsy drama – i.e. the face was is sharp focus while the background was soft.
As usual, I sent the client a hand-picked gallery of the best images, then each attorney chose 2 for me to retouch. I sent them their full-size selections, as well as copies that I cropped and sized for their website to replace the older ones. That saved them time and money not having to hire a graphic designer or have their admin support staff fiddle with it.
For these corporate headshots, I worked with a combination of natural light from the windows and I brought a softbox studio light to supplement and add some separation between the faces and the backgrounds.
Some of the attorneys were a little nervous during the shoot, but we did one-at-a-time so their no onlooking peers would affect them. The absolute wrong way to shoot corporate headshots is to have a line of peers watching as they wait their turn. As usual I chatted and joked with each person to help them relax. And even the act of intentionally trying to get a happy/approachable shot and also a serious shot provoked a lot of laughter.
Check out some of the photos below. Click a photo to start the slideshow.
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